By Davidson Iriekpen, 08.05.2010

 

As deadline for the adoption of on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) draws near, a training course has been scheduled for bankers and public quoted companies in order to get them acquainted with the system.

 

IASeminars -  a global provider of training courses on IFRS and International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), has announced its partnership with Alpha Learning Nigeria to expand IFRS training courses across West Africa.

The Chief Executive Officer of Alpha Learning, Mr. Henry Balogun, disclosed that the training courses would commence in the country in August.

He added that world leaders, including the G-20, are already pushing for a single set of global accounting standards to be adopted at the earliest opportunity.

 

Speaking with newsmen in Lagos, Managing Director of IASeminars, Mr. Marc Gardiner, said: “The surge forward with IFRS convergence and adoption has created a massive readiness gap. Recent studies by the AICPA and Deloitte have confirmed what we’ve known for some time – staff are not fluent in IFRS and the need for quality technical training is soaring.”

Because of this increasing demand, IASeminars has recently added a number of African locations to its global offering, including a number of courses in Nigeria.

Gardiner said more than 20 different training topics are now scheduled in Lagos for August and December 2010. The topics are to be conducted by a faculty of international experts and are from one to eight days in duration.

Topic areas include general introductory ‘Basics’, in-depth foundation skills ‘Fundamentals’, and the most robust of all offerings – the ‘IFRS Immersion’ workshop.

Industry specialty courses , which cater to the specific needs of the Oil and Gas, Mining, Banking, Non-Profits, Utilities, and other sectors are also available.

IFRS offerings have been strong for some years, with Nigerian course attendees appreciating the IASeminars hands-on training experience, Gardiner said.

The training institute has delivered courses to professionals from more than 200 different countries, and has served the IFRS training needs of over 6,000 from companies including Alcoa, Boeing, Equifax, NASDAQ, PetroChina, European Space Agency, Rio Tinto Alcan, Saudi Aramco, and ScotiaBank.

Besides, IASeminars course participants are also encouraged to pursue IFRS certification by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

With more than 130,000 members in 165 countries, the ICAEW is a globally recognised professional organisation that offers the IFRS Certificate, an internationally respected credential. IASeminars is an official ICAEW IFRS Partner in learning, and works together in offering learning solutions – leading to the IFRS Certificate, ranging from self-study materials to intensive expert-led IFRS skill-building courses and exam preparation crammers.

 

Source: Thisday